| Eminence |
29 December 2003
|
Novak Reveals How Omnibus Bill Undermines American System
Conservative columnist and talking head Bob Novak is not flavor of the month in this space, ever. Still, he did come
into the game as a journalist, and his training floats to the top from time to time. He has done the nation a great service
in a piece
put out Christmas Day on how the US government actually funds itself.
The federal government starts out with 11 departmental spending bills that should be passed every year by October 1.
They aren't, and the fun begins in drafting and passing the annual Omnibus Spending Bill. Special projects may
receive funds without debate or hearings, the so-called "earmarked" projects. They now account for $22.5 billion in
federal spending annually.
And it is the House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman, the "cardinals," who decide what's in and what's out.
The Omnibus Bill is laden with pork for everyone, but should a legislator vote against the bill, the funding that goes to
that legislator's district winds up cut out of the final version. The choice is to vote for what the committee decides
(and it seems this is a rubber stamp of what the cardinals want), or get nothing for one's own district while the bill
passes anyway. Some 58 Democrats voted for the latest Omnibus Bill.
Of course, the president can veto the bill, but if that happens, the government either survives on continuing resolutions, that is spending authorizations at the previous year's levels for a few days, or it shuts down. It was during such a shut down that Mr. Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky found ways to occupy their time that did not include reading white papers.
Whenever a nation discovers that the public purse can be used to support private interests, the idea of a republic is not far from death. Couple that with an increase in foreign wars and the administration of conquered lands (just until they can govern themselves), and the question becomes where on the timeline will historians draw the line between the American Republic and the American Empire. Perhaps that date has already passed.
Home